Operating mechanism for elevator-doors.



PATENTED 00 25, 1904. H. BITNBR. I OPERATINGMEGHANISM FOR ELEVATOR DOORS.

v LN km an \k w APPLICATION FILED APR. 6, 1903. up MODEL Patented October 25, 1904.

UN TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY BITNER, OF BERWYN, ILLINOIS.

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR ELEVATOR-DOORS. i

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 772,917, dated October25, 1904;" Application filed. April 6, 1903- Serial No. 151,263. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY BITNER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Berwyn, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new, and useful Improvements in Operating Mechanism for Elevator-Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and usefulimprovements in operating mechanism for elevator-doors; and its object is to produce a simple and efficient device of this class which shall avoid certain disadvantages of operation which have been present in prior devices. a

To this and other ends which will become apparent in the course of this specification my invention consists in certain novel features of construction which are fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described in this specification. I

In the aforesaid drawings, Figure 1. is an elevation of my improved device, showing it in position upon the wall of the elevatorwell. Fig. 2 is a top plan of the same, showing the uprights of the well in horizontal section. Fig. 3 is a section in the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an end view of that part of the mechanism attached to the door, and Fig. 5 is a section in the line 5 f Fig. 2.

Referring now to the drawings, A is the wall of the elevator-well, in which the doors to be operated are placed, and a is a suitable track secured by brackets to said wall A. Upon this track (4 runs a door B, said doorbeing supported by hangers b and rollers b.

A shaft C-is journaled in brackets 0, supported upon the wall A above the track a, said shaft extending parallel with the track a. The shaft C is continuously rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 3'by any desirable means. N0 mechanism for causing this rotation is shown, but the preferred form will doubtless be a vertical shaft in the well, provided with beveled pinions engaging with similar pinions on the shaft G. Upon the shaft 0 is a sleeve D, capable of rotation thereon. This sleeve D is provided with conical depressions at its two ends into which extend the points of two cones cl cl. The cone d, as will be seen in Fig. 5, is non-rotatably secured to the shaft C by a set-screw, and thecone cl is spring-pressed against the sleeve D by a spring (Z the opposite end of which bears against a nut d upon asleeve 0?, said sleeve being rigidly secured upon the shaft C by a set-screw d, This construction, it will beseen, affords an adjustable frictional engagement between the shaft 0 and the sleeve'D. Upon the sleeve D, which is twice as long as the width of adoor, and consequently stretches across the entire path traversedby the same in its opening and closing movements, are two spiral bands of metal E and F. These spirals, it will be noted, are opposite one to the other, one being righthanded and the other being left-handed and each has a steeper .pitch at its center than at its two ends. A small gap is provided between the adjacent ends of the two spiral straps.

"Upon the upper edge of the door is a swinging frame Gr, pivoted in brackets g. The form of this frame is clearly indicated in the drawings. Itconsists, preferably, of asingle piece of heavy wire ormetal rod and is composed primarily of'a pivot portion 9', two arms 9 projecting fromthe pivot portion g in different planes, a 'contact-piece g in the same plane as the pivot portion and the arm g and a portion giconnecting the arm 9 with the contact portion g Upon each of the arms g g is a block or roller 5 adapted to engage with the spiral bands on the sleeve D. The entire frame G is spring-pressed by a spiral spring g in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4. 4

The operation of the entire device will now be readily apparent. The normal position of the frame G is, that indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, wherein the block on the. arm giis spring- -When this takes place, the block is engaged by the spiral strap E and pushed to the left in Fig. 1, thereby forcing the door open. This motion continues as long as the frame is held in this position or until the block on the arm 9 runs off the left-hand end of the spiral strap E into the blank space between the two spirals. "When this occurs, of course the door stops moving, leaving open the, doorway usually closed by it. When it is desired to close the doors, all that it is necessary to do is to release the frame G. The spring will then swingthe block on the arm into engagement with the spiral F, which will close the door, this block running when the door is closed into the blank space between the two spirals.

The fact that the spirals vary from a low pitch at the two ends of each to a high pitch in the middle causes the doors to begin to move at a comparatively low speed, move more rapidly in the middle of their motion and slow down, so as to stop without any violent shock. The frictional engagement between the sleeve D and the shaft G is intended to avoid the ordinary objection to a positive drive for any device, and especially for elevator-doors. The shock consequent upon a positively-geared mechanism is avoided by its use and it is made impossible for any person to be caught between the door and the door-jamb and so be injured.

A noticeable advantage of my invention lies in the fact that a separate and independent device is provided to move the door in each direction, each of said devices moving continuously in the same direction all the time and Without any bodily shifting. The door is merely thrown into engagement with one or the other of the continuously-moving devices by shifting an engaging device upon the door. A further advantage lies in the fact that the two devices are in such operative positions as to engage with devices on the two opposite edges of the door. In this way the two actuating mechanisms can be placed end to end, and so project a very slight way into the elevator-well. The arrangement of the friction in the form shown is particularly advantageous for the reason that it can be positively adjusted as desired and cannot readily be changed by accident. In many of the devices heretofore in use the frictional surfaces have been in such position and so arranged as to become covered with oil, after which the device absolutely failed to work, for the reason that greasy surfaces would not transmit sufficient friction to move the comparatively heavy doors. The frictional surfaces in my device are so placed as to be out of the reach of any grease, and in addition the adjustingsprings make it easy to regulate the friction even if oil or grease should be upon the surfaces.

A great advantage of the structure lies in the fact of the extreme ease and simplicity with which the portion which is moved to start the door moving in either direction can be shifted. Many difliculties in door-operating mechanisms have arisen from the size and complexity of the part which was moved for this purpose and in the bearing which was provided for thismoving part. All complexity is done away with in my device. and the only moving part is the frame, which swings upon a pivot in the most simple manner.

I realize that considerable variations are possible in the details of this construction without departing from the spirit of the invention, and ltherefore do notintend tolimit myself to the specific form herein shown and described, except as pointed out in the claims.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The combination with a. wall having a doorway therein. and a door adapted to close the doorway, of two rotatable devices rigidly journaled to the wall. and a movable device upon the door adapted to be thrown into engagement with either of said rotating devices to move the door in either direction.

2. The combination with a wall having a doorway therein, and a door adapted to close the doorway, of two rotatable spirals journaled upon the wall, and a suitable device upon the door adapted to be thrown into ongagement with either of said spirals to open or close the door.

3. The combination with a wall having a doorway therein, and a door adapted to close said doorway. of two opposite spirals in line with each other rotatable in the same direction, and a device on the door movable with respect thereto and adapted to be brought into engagement with either of said spirals.

L. The COlIllJlllFtlllOll with a wall having a doorway therein, and a door adapted to close said doorway, of two opposite spirals in line with each other, rotatable in the same direction, and two contactpieces rigidly positioned with reference to each other, and both movable upon thedoor, and adapted to be brought into contact respectively with said spirals.

5. The combination with a wall having a doorway therein, and a door adapted to close the doorway, of two opposite spirals having a gap between them, mounted in line with each other and rotatable in the same direction, two contact-pieces rigidly positioned with reference one to the other and both movable with respect to the door and secured thereto, said contact-pieces being on opposite sides of said spirals and each of said contactpieces being adapted to engage with one of said spirals.

6. The combination with a wall having a doorway therein, and a door adapted to close the doorway, of two opposite spirals having a gap between their ends, journaled upon the wall and rotatable in the same direction, and a rigid frame pivoted to the door and having one arm on each side of said spirals, each of device, frictionally secured upon said shaft,. and a device secured'to the door adapted to engage with said power-transmitting device.

8. The combination with a wall having a doorway therein, and a door adapted to close said doorway, of a rotatable shaft journaled upon the wall, a power-transmitting device secured upon said shaft with an adjustable frictional contact, and a suitable device adapted to engage with said power-transmitting .device secured to the door.

9. The combination with a wall havinga doorway therein, and a door adapted to close the doorway, of a rotatable shaft journaled upon the wall, a sleeve having two opposite spirals upon it secured to said shaft with an adjustable frictional contact and suitable contact-pieces upon the door adapted to be upon the door and spring-pressed in one direction, said contact-piece being so disposed that when the door is closed movement of the contact-pieces from their normal position will engage one with one of said spirals to open the door and when the door is open, movement of said contact-piece to the normal position will engage the other of said contactpieces with the other spiral to close the door.

11. The combination with a wall having a doorway and a slidable door for said doorway, of a rotatable shaft arranged at one end of said door and parallel with the line of movement thereof, oppositely 4 arranged spirals upon said shaft, one lying substantially at the end of the door in its closed position and the other substantially at the end of the door in its open position, and means upon the door for alternate engagement with said spirals.

12. The combination with an inclosure having adoorway and a slidable door for said doorway, of a rotatable shaft at the end of the door and parallel with its line of movement, oppositely-arranged spirals upon said shaft, one lying substantially at the end ofthe doorway and the other at the end of the door when open, means upon the door for alternate engagement with said spirals, and means for automatically effecting the engagement which closes the door. Y

13. In combination, an' inolosure with a doorway, a slidable door for the doorway, a rotatable shaft parallel with the end of the door, a spiral on the shaft at the end of the door when closed, a swinging arm arranged at the forward edge of the door when closing, adapted to engage with said spiral to move the door in one direction, a second spiral on the shaft at the end of the door when open, a second swinging arm upon the opposite edge of the door to engage the second spiral to move the door in the opposite direction, and

means for swinging said arms simultaneously one going out of engagement when the other engages.

14:. In combination, an inclosure having a doorway, a slidable door for said doorway, a rotatable shaft at the end of the door, oppositely-arranged spirals, frictionally mounted upon said shaft, and arranged one at theend of the doorway, and the otherat the end of the door when opened, and means upon the door for alternately engaging said spirals.

In wltness whereof I have signed the above application for Letters Patent, at Chicago, in

the county of Cook and State of Illinois, this 81st day of March, A. D. 1903.

' HARRY BITN ER. Witnesses: Y

GHAs. O. SHERVEY, RUssnLL Wines. 

